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The President of the Republic and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces invited the children of the military and security personnel serving in missions abroad to assist at the inaugural session of the Christmas tree and exhibition of Nativity scenes in the Palace of Belém, which is being held next Friday, 5 December, at 18.00 hours.

In this already traditional event which, in December, brings to the Presidency of the Republic children and youths to witness the beginning of the Christmas season, it is the turn, this year, for 140 children of members of the National Armed Forces detached in several areas of the globe to take part in the festive ceremony which opens the various exhibitions which will be on show to the public, until the end of the season, in the Palace of Belém.

There are currently nearly nine hundred members of the three branches of the Armed Forces (Navy, Army and Air Force), of the National Republican Guard and of the Public Security Police, in service in foreign parts, within the cadre of international peace missions.

The Detached National Forces are present in such diverse operational theatres as Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Congo, Kosovo, Lebanon and East Timor.

The setting up of the Christmas tree and the arrangements of the Christmas table, in the Dining Rooms, were carried out this year by twenty students of the Higher School of Decorative Arts (ESAD) of the Ricardo Espírito Santo Silva Foundation. .

Responding to the invitation of the Presidency, the ESAD students chose a creative approach and a concept of a tree following the Christmas tradition, with a full chromatically contrasting decoration. The Christmas table joins, in its decoration, traditional Portuguese symbols and objects of daily use, thus allowing a novel view of the latter.